Biometrics Security News and Information

What Is The "Travel Experience Of 2012"?

The New Year Means New Travel

Well, as we start off the new year, one thing will be on everybody’s mind.  And that is, in this cold winter weather, thinking of the summer, we are all trying to book summer plans and vacations.  The only big vacation I am planning to take is in August, and my fiancé Anita and I will be taking our much awaited honeymoon to Disneyworld.  Luckily I took everybody’s advice, and booked during the holidays, when I had the time off.  As a result, I got some very good pricing, and some very cheap hotel rooms.  And as we travel, there will be one common theme:  Security, and getting through those long lines. 

It will no doubt be frustrating for sure, as airlines have cut back on a lot of “niceities” and other convenience for passengers.  And then there are the idiotic TSA security agents, who in my opinion, have no clue as to what a true terrorist profile is like, much less even apprehend one.  But, there may be some hope as we trudge through the new year, as travel gets further incorporated into the advancing technologies which are embracing our every day lives, ranging from the Smartphone to social media, and yes, even Biometrics.  A market research study conducted by a firm known as “Amadeus” has just announced some key findings as to how the new era travel will be ushered in. 

Here are some details:  “major new global study released today outlines how transformative technologies and evolving social values and trends will combine to establish a new era of collaborative travel over the next decade and beyond . . . From chaos to collaboration: how transformative technologies will herald a new era in travel', demands increased partnership across the travel industry, in turn removing the stress, uncertainty and chaos which is usually associated with travelling in the 21^st Century, as well as providing much richer, deeper and more personal travel experiences at the same time.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9471/).

Here are the key areas where the role of technology, wireless, social media, and breakthroughsin security technology will play a key role in our travel experience in the new year:

*Travel will not become a chore, rather it will be pleasant, overall experience culminating all of the above factors;

*As we travel through the airports, and as we make it through the transit lounges, getting in and out will become much easier smart cards and biometrics (especially long range fingerprint recognition);

*We will now become a cashless society, as the use of smart cards will proliferate and enable us to make payments on the go very quickly and easily (and perhaps even better than credit cards);

*As Biometrics, Smartphones, all things wireless, and smart cards make their way, they will also keep track of our so called “travel experiences”, and based from that, “intelligent recommendations” will be made for our future plans of travel, with very little effort from us;

*Probably the best of all, with this culmination of different items coming into the foreplay, we will now have exact tracking details on our bags and carry ons.  Meaning, if something gets lost, we will know exactly where it got lost, and we will know whom to blame and follow up with to get answers and our lost luggage.  Gone will be the days when we are totally dependent upon the rude customer service agents of the airlines.  We will now be in control, and best of all, there will be a lot more accountability now.

In the end, all of this sounds real great to me.  But my real question still remains:  When will all of this actually take effect?  I mean, it requires cooperation from the airlines, all of the vendors in the private sector, and who knows what else.

But given how slow things happen here nowadays, my bet it will probably be quite some time. Hmm, maybe Anita and I will be surprised and all of this will happen by the time of our honeymoon?  Stay tuned for a posting in late August, and you will find out for sure.

How To Break Out Of Our Comfort Zone

Understanding Human Nature

It’s basic human psychology for people to live in what we call the “comfort zone”.  By this I mean we feel comfortable into our daily schedules, knowing that there is a routine in our every lives.  Theoretically, there is nothing wrong with this, as we know day to day what we need to get done and get accomplished.  There is a sense of predicatability, and we are just fine with that.  Now while to a degree this is good, there is also something very wrong with this as well.  By living in our comfort zone, we get use to doing the same thing day in and day out.  We think as long as we can do the best we can here, it is good enough.  But by living in our comfort zone, we tend to fail to be our true best-meaning, the ability to have to strive for better results than what we currently perform at. 

And not only this, when we are faced with new challenges which are presented to us (not by our own choice), we tend to run away in fear because of the feeling of getting out of our daily routine and something more challenging being thrown at us.  And this feeling of being in the comfort zone is also very much true in the world of security, and is perfectly exemplified by a recent market research study conducted by a Biometrics Vendor known as Digital Persona, Inc. The long and the short:  Despite the overwhelming acknowledgment of the respondents that fraud and ID theft is a huge concern, a bulk of them are still using the weakest link in the chain-passwords. 

Here are the details:  “DigitalPersona, Inc., a global provider of strong authentication and access management solutions, today announced the results of a survey which shows more than half of retailers still use passwords for point-of-sale (POS) system login, despite concerns over the sharing and misuse of those passwords. The survey also revealed that of those companies considering a change to new login methods, nearly 70 percent are considering a switch to biometric authentication . . . The 2011 survey of more than 1,100 participants was conducted by NetWorld Alliance, the retail industry's premier publisher of news and information about self-service, digital signage and retail customer experience. Results revealed that over 90 percent of the respondents ranked fraud prevention to be one of the most important aspects when considering sign-in methods. Furthermore, respondents cited eliminating fraudulent overrides and attendance fraud as the most important security concerns facing their business . . .   Despite the overwhelming indication that fraud and theft are major business concerns for POS security, it's surprising that over half of businesses still use the least secure method of user authentication”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9472/).

My Take

OK, so there you have it.  Over 1,000+ respondents were polled (based from the content, I am assuming it is mostly businesses in the retail world), they rank that fraud is a huge concern amongst them, and yet they still use a very poor form of security-the password (over half of the respondents still claim to use passwords as the primary means of login into their POS terminal).  To me, this is no surprise, as I have been dealing with Biometrics for a very long time, and this is the same issue I have faced.  People acknowledge that it is a great tool to use, but in the end, there is a strong hesitancy to use it. But hey, blame in on the comfort zone. 

Now, that we have the problem acknowledged, how do we get people out of this comfort zone?  This is a psychological phenomenon which embraces our daily existence, in all parts of it.  So, I am going to talk strictly from the perspective of Biometrics.  Probably the best way to get people out of passwords and into using Biometrics is actually teaching people in how to use it.  And is not just merely teaching which is involved here, but actually showing the benefits and advantages of it, especially how it is superior to passwords.  That is the bridge which will take people out of their comfort zone and into the next challenge, which will be getting used to something better, namely Biometrics. 

And to business owners especially, they need to be educated into the higher ROI they will be getting using a single sign on solution versus using a password with its enormous administrative overhead.  But, there is an advantage here as well.  According to the survey, something like 70% of the respondents are considering the use of something else other than passwords.  So, as a result, they are not at the epicenter of their comfort zone, rather they are on the edge of it. 

So, with a little bit of education from the Biometrics Industry, we can take these people on the edge and bump them up to their next comfort zone, albeit with a few more challenges.  Really, it does not take too much work.  Just some hand holding.  And on this note, what is beyond the comfort zone of Biometrics?  Only time will tell, but something very interesting to think about.

A Lesson Learned For The United States

Getting Rid Of The Bad Guys

One of the biggest applications (or one of the more emerging apps, depending upon how you look at it) of Biometrics is use by the governments around the world to make sure that their poorest of the poor citizens get counted and included for any and all welfare benefits they are allowed to receive.  This part of Biometrics is a very passionate topic of mine, and in of the samples of the quarterly newsletter, you can see a nice editorial written by a contributor based out of South Africa.  But just as much as Biometrics is being used to help the poorest people on the planet, it is also being used to fight the bad guys who are trying to claim benefits that they are not entitled to receive. 

A prime example of this is the country of Ghana, where a huge Biometrics Vendor known as “3M Cogent” is taking a huge part.  Here are the details in this massive undertaking:  “Ghana’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning initiative to clear the government’s payroll of ghost names has detected and expunged about 34,000 illegal names in seven regions that were on pensioners’ payroll. These ghost names account for 38% of the pensioners registered so far during the $2.385 million project, led by the US company 3M Cogent. Biometric data has been collected from 54,544 out of the 88,467 pensioners in the Greater Accra, Eastern, Volta, Central, Ashanti, Western and Brong Ahafo regions . . . A significant percentage of the government’s discretionary budget goes to public sector payroll expenditure, which is perceived to be bloated with fraudulent employee records and gross over-payments.  The lack of adequate mechanisms to effectively identify ghost names on the payroll and delete them has been one major contributing factor for the failure of head counts in the past. While ghost names have been identified and expunged from the payroll, more ghost names have continued to find their way onto the payroll.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/articles/i/9466/).

My Take

Well, really, if you read the entire above quote, the story says it all.  Biometrics (although the specific technology is not mentioned, I can assume it is fingerprint recognition) has cleared out some 34,000+ names of people trying to claim benefits fraudulently.  In terms of percentages, this comes out to close to 40%.  Now, that is a rather huge amount.  My hats off here to the government of Ghana to take such huge steps.  And as you can see from the above quote as well, this country is one which spends a huge amount of money in welfare and pensions (how it stacks up against the other poor countries around the world, I have no idea). 

As a result, there is a huge bloat factor and severe over grossing of payments to people who do not deserve this money.  Also to put in monetary terms, “ . . . GH¢16 million monthly and GH¢192 million annually” has been saved by the Ghana government.  Not exactly sure what the exchange rate is with the US dollar, it sure sounds like a large amount in absolute terms.  According to the article where I got this information, in June of this year, the government of Ghana is going to register some 730,000 public employees to reduce the amount of fraud there as well.  Now, here we see the use of Biometrics so well here in these underdeveloped countries.  It truly amazes me to see how these governments can adopt Biometrics so well, and we here in the United States have such a hard time publicly accepting it.  I mean, think about it. 

These governments barely have enough to support an infrastructure like ours, but yet, they are willing to spend and invest money into some of the latest security technologies in order to help their own people out.  But, another story yet here is going to develop.  As the global economic crisis still lingers, and as doubts about Europe continue especially with regards to the inevitable downfall of the Euro, we will see, in my view, these countries and ours take on Biometrics on an even much grander scale.  This is so, because as many people get laid off, or are unable to find work for long periods of time, the net resultant will be that these people will try to find income through the respective governments. 

And as the amount of these people escalate, the need to use Biometrics will only proliferate greater in order to separate out the “wheat from the chaff”, as the saying goes.  Now while this is of course good news to our industry, perhaps it is time that we learn from these poorer countries in how to use Biometrics to fight our own welfare fraud, before it becomes too late.  And again in my view, this will truly be the irony of all ironies the United States will still face.

Stealing Gas Pipes In The United Kingdom

An Enlightening Weekend

Well, so how was everybody’s weekend out there?  Mine was pretty busy.  Anita and I finally booked the photographer, and on Sunday, I went to my first ever baby baptism.  It was truly an enriching experience, as it was conducted in a Greek Orthodox church in Des Plaines, and after that, there was a huge celebration at a nearby Greek restaurant.  I met many more of Anita’s friends, and I was being introduced, a couple of people had asked me what I did.  I told them that I worked full time as a content writer, but I also do work heavily in biometrics, with my own tech writing business on the side. 

So of course, the usual spade of questions came out, and even one about DNA.  I had mentioned that DNA is still under research and development.  So, with this in mind, we start this week’s posting with regards to DNA again. 

The scene is in the United Kingdom, and it is being used to protect against certain types of theft:  “POLICE in Essex are using SelectaDNA to mark metal after a series of dangerous gas pipe thefts left buildings at risk of fire and explosion . . . Recent crimes include the theft of copper piping connected to external gas meters at properties in Station Road, Clacton. Around £500 worth of metal piping was stolen in one incident and approximately four metres of piping was taken from another building . . . SelectaDNA Grease has been specially designed to protect outdoor materials such as lead roofing and copper piping, which are particularly vulnerable to theft. If a thief handles marked goods, the Grease instantly transfers onto his or her hands and clothing. Police can then scan suspects with UV detection equipment to locate traces of the substance.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.biometricnewsportal.com/biometrics_news3.asp?articleid=267096&arttitle=Gas Pipe Thefts Spark Action).

My Thoughts

Well, now in the hundreds of postings I have written about, Biometrics has always been used to protect assets, such as physical or intellectual property.  Never I have seen anything written about it being used to protect metal piping.  Truly, an interesting one, I must say.  But when you think about it, why would one even want to attempt to steal piping of any kind? True there is some value to it, but isn’t it a big pain in the a$$ to actually have to cut in the piping out?  And from the news article, it appears that the thieves are even stealing piping when the gas is still turned on.  Not too smart, I would say. 

That would truly make for a very “explosive” experience, to say the least.  Now, this solution talks about using a DNA spray of sorts.  If I do remember correctly, I have written about this solution before on a couple of times.  I have also questioned heavily about if DNA is truly being used here or not.  Remember, if one is to use DNA in the truest form, it would take weeks, days and hours to conduct a scientific analysis, for true identification and verification to happen of an individual.  And believe me, I can vouch for this, as I just got my CBP testing materials just late last week, and I even started studying this past weekend. 

One of the topics that came up first was about DNA.  Even the IEEE has claimed in this material that DNA still has a long way to go in order for it be considered to be a true biometric. So again, while the content is of course quite interesting, I still heavily question if DNA is really used or not.  To me, it reminds me more of one those ink spray things you see at high end retail stores (it sprays an ink if you attempt to steal the product or good).  But never the less, this illustration here in the United Kingdom still underscores the primary need to secure our properties, homes and businesses.  I guess nothing is really secure any more. 

Although ADT maybe the preferred method to fortify our dwellings, remember Biometrics can playa huge role here as well.  After all, it is still a security technology, right?  Granted, it may not have made its big splash in the home and private sector as much it has had with the businesses and the government, there is still a tremendous market potential here yet to be tapped.  Perhaps the Biometrics Industry should make their products and solutions much more tailored to home use now.  Even in the roughest of economies, fear and loss are still very strong pain points of customers, and the need to feel to protected (with whatever the technology is) is still very important and very basic to our existence.

A New Way To Gauge The Effectiveness Of Your Workouts

Working Out

Well, I tell ya, as I mentioned yesterday, the weather here in Chi Town has just been absolutely fantastic.  It has been in the 50’s, and in a lot of ways, it feels like spring time.  Hmm, I love that, a fast forward to warmer weather and much longer days.  As this weather continues this trend, many people I see are starting to jog, walk, or conduct exercises outside. 

And today, a Biometrics Vendor just announced a new biometrics solution to help you keep track of the effectiveness of your workout.  Here are some of the details of this:  “Valencell, an innovator in mobile health and fitness technology integrated into audio headset earbuds, today announced it will demonstrate its enhanced V-LINC sensor technology at the 2012 International CES. Valencell's V-LINC solution continuously measures more real-time biometric data, with higher accuracy, in virtually any environment, than any other health and fitness sensor technology on the market . . . Presenters will be wearing earbud prototype units and showing mobile applications to demonstrate how Valencell's licensable technology measures body metrics such as continuous heart rate, calories burned, distance and speed during use on a treadmill, stationary bike, and in other exercise scenarios.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9460/).

My Take

Well, I have to admit that this is a definition of the stretch of the traditional meaning of Biometrics.  In my world, it is all about verification and identification.  But, Biometrics can be extended to include this definition of moving body parts, from an exercise perspective.  I mean after all, it is our unique traits which are still being examined. Now that I think about it, I have written a few postings where such physiological traits as described up above are being used in real time market research (this includes eye movement, sweat, heartbeat, etc).  And on a second note, I do have to admit this is the very first time (and yes, without a doubt) I have even read or seen anything about a headset, or earbuds being used to keep track of the effectiveness of your workout. 

I used to be a regular gym rat during my weight loss period.  Even I used to wear earbuds/headphones all of the time to listen to music (especially Rocky), but at that time, everybody kept track of the technology on the machine to gauge how well their workout was going.  Also, I have seen even wrist band technology being used to keep track of general pulse rate and calories burnt.  Although I do not go the gym as much now (I still remain active, I do martial arts 5 times a week, and believe me, it is still of a heck of a workout), it will be interesting to see how this trend adopts in the near future. In my view, I think it has a great future.  After all earbuds and headphones are a very common thing to use, so there is that factor ease of use and convenience.  But best of all, people who love working out (like me) don’t have to wear a clunky band or anything like that which would get in a way of working out hard and extensively. 

Slap in those earbuds, and boom, you are ready to go.  I would love to see something like this for the martial arts.  Except for the wristband eluded to above, there is no other technology out there to gauge the effectiveness of the workout.  The only way you can tell is by sore legs and arms.  Hmm, maybe this definition and technology of Biometrics here can be extended to include verification and/or identification.  Only time will tell, but count on it being a reality one day.  But remember this.  There will be a huge market demand for this, as it is claimed that some 70% of workout out a holics wear an earbud, and this can be connected to the wireless device, such as the iPhone. 

How convenient is that?  And, perhaps since there is a wireless component here, maybe the biometrics associated with the earbud can also be used as a way to verify the owner of the Smartphone?  Perhaps like using your heartbeat instead of fingerprint or voice recognition?  Just more of my ideas here . . .

The Ultimate, New Way To Shop In 2012

This Weekend

Well, we are now approaching the first full weekend in January.  This week has gone by so fast, from all perspectives.  And the weather, has been stunning.  I can’t complain.  As we come to these two days off, it will be devoted to wedding planning, primarily focusing upon photographers (I do have the honeymoon booked-all the way to Disneyworld me and Anita go to).  Apart from this, my next project this weekend is to do my usual grocery shopping.  I just hope and pray that the lines are not as long and crowded as they were at the end of the year.  So, with this in mind, I bring you a biometrics solution presented a vendor which could make your shopping experiences down the road much easier. 

The details:  “StoreBOT, created in conjunction with a world leading specialty retailer, is an automated retail platform providing secure self-service delivery of multiple product categories (games, electronics, perfume, and health/beauty items). The automated center provides retailers with a sales & delivery mechanism to resolve notoriously high shrink rates associated with small, but expensive items . . . The StoreBOT robotic delivery mechanism doubles as an intelligent inventory count tool. The system provides on-demand inventory visibility by quickly scanning the physical product bar codes and remotely reporting back accurate counts directly to the retailer, eliminating costly operator involvement and stock losses resulting from administrative errors. Further, StoreBOT automatically triggers re-order reports based on minimum stock levels to prevent missed sales opportunities.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9455/).

My Take

Now, this is what I call a slick solution.  How easy is that, just use your little fingerprint to buy something.  I guess in a way, it sure beats standing in the big lines, and awaiting to use a biometric payment methods there, either.  As you can see from the above quote, this solution is not meant for big and bulky products, but rather, for those smaller items, which have a very high value in terms of dollars and cents.  The exact nature of the products can be seen up above.  According to the source where I got this content from, employee theft accounts for about 44.1% of total shrink value in the retail world. 

Biometrics is being used in this regard to help curtail (although the specific technology was not mentioned, I am assuming it is fingerprint recognition).  Where is the shrink level so greatly reduced at?  Here is the answer:  “[shrink is kept track of during] loading machine inventory [and] with automated stock count reports (before and after loading).”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9455/). 

There are a couple of other advantages which should be noted here, and that is, there are automated inventory reports which can be produced from this biometrics solution, and probably one of the better ones, that with all of this automation in hand, even the appropriate product level and inventory can be ordered as well, without the need for manual, human intervention to do all of this tedious work (I have worked in retail before, so I know it totally sucks).  So with all of this at hand, it means that the retailers, especially the mom and pop ones, can greatly capitalize now on much missed sales opportunity. 

Just a couple of things come to mind.  First, since Biometrics is being used as the primary security tool, there ought to be a training program to teach customers how to use it.  If this is not in place immediately, everything will be pretty much for naught.  Second, I wonder when we will see this type of solution become available for the bigger products and goods.  Of course, this will largely depend upon what comes to mind in terms of retail thinking (obviously, you are not going to sell a large piece of furniture with this—or maybe you could?!?!?!). 

If this does occur on a grander scale, this will truly change the shopping experience to the core, perhaps in a degree like how online shopping has done.  Keep in mind, if this does happen we could very well see the demise of some traditional retail stores whom have been around for a long time.  To illustrate this point:  Just think what Redbox did to Blockbuster.

How Not To Get A DUI With Biometrics

New Year’s Revisited

OK, well, here we are now into the third day of the new year.  I have to admit, that over the course of the last year, I have indulged in something I thought I never have before.  And can you take a guess as to what that is??? I have actually started to drink alcohol.  Nope, I have not become a drunkard by any means, but I now actually enjoy wine tasting of all types and kinds.  Never before in my life did I think I would enjoy it.  I have started out with just a few slurps of the hard stuff, and eventually and have worked my way to half a glass. 

To many people this may seem like an insubstantial amount, but to somebody who has never touched a drop of it before, half a glass is quite a bit.  Such is the case on New Year’s Eve.  As my wonderful fiancé Anita and her Mom and I were celebrating the ushering in of 2012, I actually even had a three quarters cup of wine.  I tell ya, I really felt it, and I was worried about the drive back to my apartment (in other words, being caught for a possible DUI when I was extremely far from being drunk).  So with all of this in mind, I came across a Press Release which just announced a Biometrics Vendor has received a patent for the use of Biometrics in intoxication detection systems. 

The goop:  “TruTouch Technologies, a pioneer in non-invasive biometric intoxication detection systems, today announced that it has secured a U.S. patent that protects the use of its noninvasive optical technology for the detection of alcohol in operators of automobiles and machinery . . . The TruTouch products use an advanced intoxication detection technology that uses light to measure a subject's alcohol level instead of bodily fluids or other means. With TruTouch, a test subject places their finger on a near infrared measurement system, which then analyzes the alcohol concentration in the subject's system. The device can produce accurate results in seconds, and has a built-in biometric identification system to ensure test result integrity.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9454/).

My Take

OK, so you maybe asking now as to how all of this works.  Well, rather instead of using bodily fluids or the like, in a pattern much like vein pattern recognition, a light is shone through the person’s finger and just underneath the skin, and from here, the intoxication level can be read in just a few seconds.  It should be noted that an infrared system is used. From what I can gather, this system has a lot of potential as well as benefits. 

For example, in a law enforcement situation, the tension filled and the extremely critical time in order to ascertain if a suspect is DUI is brought now down to just a number of seconds, versus the half an hour or even perhaps hour it could take to do all of this under traditional means (such as urine test, breathalyzer, etc.).  And also, it is not just law enforcement which will benefit from this application, but a whole host of other applications as well:

*Workplace health and safety;

*Medical equipment;

*Industry and heavy equipment safety;

*Vehicle safety

But although there are the huge benefits as described above, there are also the disadvantages as well.  Probably the biggest one is privacy rights violation faced by law enforcement (and this is the biggest group which will face it, believe me). If a suspect refuses to give the finger, the officer will have administer the traditional means. 

To me, I think that this is a great breakthrough.  But please remember this one thing, for your own sake.  If you are stopped for a potential DUI by a cop, you may refuse to give your finger, but please don’t “give the finger!!!”.

What Are The Top Trends For 2012? Find Out Here

The Start Of The New Year

Well, today (or yesterday) is the first business day of the new year.  And already, we are starting to see lots of news developing.  The financial markets seem to have done very well (let’s hope that they stay that way), Iran is threatening to blockade the Persian Gulf (specifically the Strait of Hormuz, watch for oil prices to escalate well over $100/barrel); and everybody is anxiously awaiting the results of the Iowa Caucuses. 

And in the world of security, experts are already making their predictions as to what 2012 will bring out.  So here we go with the top 4 predictions, according to a whitepaper just published in the United Kingdom:

Employees will continue to bring and increase the usage of their own portable devices and Smartphones at the workplace:

“2012 will bring even more of this and we’ll see a few high-profile incidents of enterprise data loss resulting from allowing employees to connect their personal mobile devices to the company network without proper security protocols in place.”

This only makes sense that this will happen.  Workers often feel constrained with their companies’ existing security policies, and feel chained when they are forced to use company issued equipment.  A lot of this is fueled by the worker’s comfort zone.  When we use our own devices, there is feeling of control and familiarity with the desktop and internal environments. 

When we lose this control with something we are not familiar with, it is only human nature to tend to rebel.  Such is the case with employees bringing and plugging their own devices into the workplace.  Perhaps a workaround with this is to craft and formulate security policies which will allow workers to use their personal devices for work related purposes, but still conform to the security needs of the business.

There will be another huge Cybersecurity attack:

“In 2011 we saw several large data breaches including the Sony breach that leaked more than 100 million credentials online and the Gawker breach that leaked more than one million . . . In 2012 we anticipate there will be another large scale security breach as a result of weak credentials and poor authentication standards on websites.”

Yes, there probably will be many if not thousands of security breaches will take place.  But, you can’t blame usernames and passwords entirely.  Yes, their amongst the weakest link in the chain, but there is also the extreme laziness of people to use easy passwords and to make them very visible to anybody.  This merely reflects a severe lack of proactiveness and laziness. 

But even if username and password entropy were to be fortified, there will still be security breaches, no matter what.  Blame this on the cat and mouse game I have eluded to before.  The hackers and the ID thieves are always one step ahead of the good guys.  It is much easier to break a security system than it is to create.  Here, they have the upper hand.

In the world of Smartphones and mobile applications, Biometrics and image based authentication will lead the way:

“Examples include graphical authentication techniques, image-based authentication, pattern-based authentication where users draw a particular pattern on a touchscreen. Biometric authentication such as face and voice recognition will also become more prevalent. Expect triple-digit market growth for emerging authentication technologies in 2012.”

No surprise here, as this is something I have written extensively about before in 2011.  I am not too sure about the image based authentication schemes, but watch for fingerprint recognition and especially voice recognition to make huge headways in 2012, with regards to fortifying mobile and wireless applications.

It will be the SME and the retail world which will lead the early adopters for modern security technology:

“In fact, in a recent survey of smartphone users the majority (60 percent) said they wish there were an easier form of authentication for mobile apps. Retailers and payment providers understand that they are losing money due to user frustration with mobile authentication. One poll showed that 84 percent of respondents said they have struggled with mobile transactions and nearly 25 percent specifically reported trouble with logins. 43 percent said a negative experience would cause them to abandon the mobile commerce transaction altogether.”

Forget about Corporate America leading the way.  In my view, it will be the Mom and Pop stores.  Just as much as we are starting to see the eventual demise of our own postal service due to e-mail and instant messaging, so will come the demise of the traditional brick and mortar stores.  Now that just about everybody has a Smartphone and wants everything right here and now, and yesterday, watch for online purchases and mobile commerce transactions to really proliferate in 2012. 

The two top retail sales seasons which could see the huge growth in this is back to school, and the holiday season.  I mean why wait in line and face the possibilities of getting trampled upon when all you have to do is order your products and goods with just a few clicks on your Smartphone???  And plus, you probably get further discounts with online purchases than the brick and mortar shopping.

NOTE:  All quotes taken from: http://www.biometricnewsportal.com/biometrics_news3.asp?articleid=267070&arttitle=Top 5 Authentication Predictions for 2012

Happy New Year 2012!!! The Rise And Fall Of Security

The Downfall Of Biometrics

Well, first and foremost, a very Happy New Year to all of my readers and subscribers!!!  No, I haven’t dropped off of the blogging scene, I figured that I would take a week or so off and give my brain some rest.  But don’t worry, 2012 will be another exciting year for all of us, and for this blog site!!!  During the holidays, I added more stuff to the tech writing web site (www.biometricnews.net), and also, I am offering for the first time, a “Biometrics Social Community”.  With this, I am hoping I can get some serious worldwide discussion and collaboration on the topic of Biometrics. 

Also, I spent some time getting caught up with another book that I started to read, but had put down for some time.  It is called “America Identified:  Biometric Technology And Society”, by Lisa S. Nelson.  I have written about this book, I think during the summer time of 2011 when it first came out.  In my view, this is the first true, good book about the societal impacts of Biometrics, and why people are so afraid to use it, and even why there are strong proponents for it as well.  It’s not just a book about the author’s points of view, but rather, it is series of points of view based upon actual market research conducted by the author on actual respondents and subjects (I will write more about this aspect in a later posting). 

As I was reading this book yesterday, there was one section which really caught my attention.  And it was about the rise and fall of Biometrics post 9/11.  This is also another subject I have blogged about before on occasion.  But to refresh all of your memories (and especially poignant ones), just after 9/11 occurred, Biometrics received the boon from everybody that this would be the next greatest piece of security technology which would basically save us from the face of terrorism.  But just shortly after its, rise, its demise also began.  This particular section of this book offers such reasons why, and I would like to share them with all of you.

The Rise of Biometrics Post 9/11

Here are some of the reasons cited:

*Shortly after 9/11, the USA PATRIOT ACT of 2001, and the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 were the primary catalysts for the propulsion of Biometrics, and called for its immediate use;

*Barely these two legislations were passed, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California announced the beginning of hearings known to be formulated by the Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information.  These hearings were know as “Biometric Identifiers and the Modern Face of Terror: New Technology in the Global War On Terrorism”;

*After these hearings, the potential of Biometrics and its many applications were soon discovered, as a result of the testimonies presented by officials in the private sector as well as academia;

*Another catalyst for the leap of Biometrics was a white paper written at the time by Visionics, Inc. (at that time, a major Facial Recognition Vendor), entitled “Protecting Civilization form the Faces of Terror”.

*Because of some of these thought provoking and high level papers and discussions, “September 11^th created a long awaited moment for the biometric industry”.

*Ultimately, Biometrics was viewed as the ultimate savior from terrorism because it could assist the so called War On Terrorism because “ . . . it could provide protection in a wide variety of contexts.”

The Fall of Biometrics Post 9/11

Here are some of the reasons cited:

*Even despite the boom of Biometrics, privacy rights and social acceptance were still lurking in the background as impediments to its full adoption;

*The hearings and testimonies as presented from the Feinstein Committee as described above discovered a Biometrics Industry in the United States which was totally disfragmented, with many competing technologies presented.  In other words, “ . . . the biometrics industry was a series of industries within an industry . . .”;

*As a result of this perception of the industry, there was now widespread concern of reliability and accuracy of the use of Biometrics in the War On Terrorism;

*Because of this defragmentation in the industry, there was also a serious lack of a set of uniform standards and best practices for Biometrics.  As a result, one of the conclusions of the Feinstein Committee was to create a central agency for the testing of Biometrics and for the compilation of a common set of standards which would reside under U.S. Federal Government control;

*Thus, the fears of the Federal Government in using Biometrics started to escalate, even more so as other Federal Law enforcement agencies tried to incorporate their own, existing databases into this new scheme of Biometrics (a prime example of this is AFIS, which is the premier fingerprint database of the FBI), arising fears of Big Brother watching our every move;

*This quote best sums it up:  “ . . . biometric technology functioned as the Panopticon . . . the perception that biometric technology had the potential to be all seeing would create the desired effect  . . . because individuals would never know with certainty whether they were being surveilled  . . . the result would be a totalitarian society where thoughts and behavior would be censored by the constant fear of surveillance.”

So as you can see, these are some of the major reasons cited.  It all really comes down to a balance of the promise of Biometrics versus Federal Government control and fear.  But unfortunately, the balance scales tipped into the  fears of the Federal Government, thus causing Biometrics its meteoric downfall after the huge promises the vendors had promised to deliver.  But another key point to remember is that the first two pieces of Federal Legislation as described above were passed in a very haphazard fashion, in order to show to the world that the United States was very serious in fighting terrorism, post 9/11.   As a result, very little thought was given about the true realities of what Biometrics could deliver. 

Had all of this been given thought and foresight, perhaps the American public would be now much more accepting of Biometrics.  I will continue to write more Postings providing analysis and commentary as I continue to read this exciting book!!!